I think I still stand my point that they should trim down the rooms again now that people are no longer auto-placed in them. There ought to be a regular pruning of sitewide chatrooms, to cut down on the number of mods needed.

Gext3r’s original point, and mine as well, really stemmed from the fact that a user who was demodded (neither of us knows his history or reasons for this) recently returned to moderator status, and was not fulfilling his duties as moderator, claiming that “he was new to being back in the saddle,” a claim which makes very little sense, because if he’d been a mod since ‘09 as he claimed and had only be demodded half a year ago, he shouldn’t have been that rusty.

I think Kong is making some great strides in narrowing the breadth of moderators and increasing their number, though. However, what I don’t like is that it will now eliminate the ability to “modcall.” If there’s no moderator in the room, you either have to remember who the external moderators are, or suffer the indignity of a regular troll, spam account, or underage user ruining your gaming experience. Muting is fine when everyone agrees to do it, but if one person mutes and everyone else continues to engage the disruptive user, then the user who was responsible enough to mute is punishes by then being unable to engage others effectively in chat because they cannot hear or see one piece of the conversation. Muting, while great in theory, often not effective and indeed self-punishing in practice.

I still support pruning the rooms, and also a much more thorough reexamination of whom to reinstate as a moderator.

A point someone had whispered to me “Also, the fact that ‘you can’t ask to be a moderator because it’ll drop you from the runnings’ seems quite idiotic. Choosing moderators should be purely because of their motivation to get the position – I’d choose the guy with the ‘application’ over the random person in the chat that ‘looks’ like he would be a good moderator”

I don’t know, I usually lean away from the people who are too blatant about wanting to become a mod. Overzealousness gets you nowhere! But hey, that’s just me.

What if Kong compromised? New mods need a recommendation from an existing mod, right? Why not allow for submissions, but the submitter needs others to support his proposal in chat? Perhaps through a referral link? Or perhaps every profile can have a “Suggest as Moderator” button, for those who are friends or fans? That way any annoying users who spam the chats would either get ignored or silenced, just like users who beg or spam any sort of links, and those who are constructive and helpful in chat can be “upvoted” to the administration?

Kitsune, in regards to the issues you’ve addressed about rooms and the moderation of them. This is still a new system and we’re very much so in transition. You can count on one hand the number of days that there’s been Room Mods. I know it’s little consolation, but I hope you trust me when I say that this system has been discussed and planned to death. The issues you address, while valid, are months in the future and I’m confident that they will be addressed and will be non-issues.

In regards to specific moderators and any concerns you have with them, I encourage you to contact them privately. If you don’t wish to do so, feel free to report them from their profile.

With the appointment of moderators. Yes, in the official sense, a nominee has to be nominated by a moderator. But, there’s absolutely nothing stopping you from contacting one of the community administrators (who actually make people moderators) and talking to them about someone that you feel should be a nominee. I have no doubt in my mind that they’d be thrilled to hear from you.

About having a “Suggest a Moderator” button. Well, it’ll rapidly become a spam hole of fake suggestions and people suggesting their friends. I can’t see why it’d be necessary when there’s also a viable system in place.

Kitsune, in regards to the issues you’ve addressed about rooms and the moderation of them. This is still a new system and we’re very much so in transition. You can count on one hand the number of days that there’s been Room Mods. I know it’s little consolation, but I hope you trust me when I say that this system has been discussed and planned to death. The issues you address, while valid, are months in the future and I’m confident that they will be addressed and will be non-issues.

I hope so. I just figured I’d put my two cents in there since this thing that happened to be me yesterday was a very real and immediate effect of the new system in place.

With the appointment of moderators. Yes, in the official sense, a nominee has to be nominated by a moderator. But, there’s absolutely nothing stopping you from contacting one of the community administrators (who actually make people moderators) and talking to them about someone that you feel should be a nominee. I have no doubt in my mind that they’d be thrilled to hear from you.

About having a “Suggest a Moderator” button. Well, it’ll rapidly become a spam hole of fake suggestions and people suggesting their friends. I can’t see why it’d be necessary when there’s also a viable system in place.

But that spam hole would be nothing different from what goes on regularly anyway. The spammers would be ignored or silenced, or perhaps a rule could be added to the code of conduct specifically saying that spamming such begging is a silence-able offense. And as for people suggesting for their friends, i believe that people who are truly good and promising moderators would get a lot more upvotes from their community in general than any one person could get from amassed friends. And I understand that these aren’t things that could be implemented tomorrow, but it would be nice to get out there.

And as for the pruning of rooms, it would be nice to know that Kong has that intention to “clean up” the excess it’s created with the implementation of efficient room usage.

Oh, for sure. I’m not trying to put down your thoughts or minimize your concerns. They’re entirely justified, I’m just trying to put you at ease and let you know that it’s all been considered, re-considered, re-re-considered and it’s under control. :)

That’s not really how Kongregate likes to approach things, though. The belief surrounding moderation on the site is for us to be community builders, not policemen. So, if we were to make spammy suggestions a silenceable offence, it would contradict the “culture” and cause a lot of problems. :-/

It’s tough to say how the community would regulate itself if there was a public system for nominees. I think some people would approach it fairly, but I’d suspect that it would just turn into a massive popularity contest. Besides, the problem with a public system is that there’s so many different factors that are taken into consideration.

As far as I know, pruning/merging rooms isn’t part of the official plan. It’s been mentioned, but I think it’s one of those “we’ll cross that bridge when it comes” sort of thing.

Oh, for sure. I’m not trying to put down your thoughts or minimize your concerns. They’re entirely justified, I’m just trying to put you at ease and let you know that it’s all been considered, re-considered, re-re-considered and it’s under control. :)

That’s not really how Kongregate likes to approach things, though. The belief surrounding moderation on the site is for us to be community builders, not policemen. So, if we were to make spammy suggestions a silenceable offence, it would contradict the “culture” and cause a lot of problems. :-/

It’s tough to say how the community would regulate itself if there was a public system for nominees. I think some people would approach it fairly, but I’d suspect that it would just turn into a massive popularity contest. Besides, the problem with a public system is that there’s so many different factors that are taken into consideration.

As far as I know, pruning/merging rooms isn’t part of the official plan. It’s been mentioned, but I think it’s one of those “we’ll cross that bridge when it comes” sort of thing.

I suppose I just don’t understand the “community builders thing.” It’s been mentioned before, but I’m not sure what’s actually expected of it. What does Kongregate expect people to do as community builders? Generate chat? Guide it in such a way that everyone’s included? Most moderators I’ve seen are often silent until PMd or they noticed someone flooding chat, then they quiet them, through words or mod powers, then often return to gaming or whatever they were doing otherwise. I suppose it’s hard to see moderators as much other than “users with police powers” in that context.

And perhaps that’s something explained to mods when they’re modded, or there’s a forum post I haven’t read yet. But it seems a little too abstract of a label for much effectiveness.

I have to admit, I’m slightly disappointed by pruning rooms not being a part of the ‘official’ plan, though. I understand about the popularity contest though I still think it’s worth a trial for maybe a week or a month or so, but I think the amount of rooms is a larger part of the new moderator system that should have been addressed before this implementation.

It seems to me that Kongregate did a good thing by restructuring its chatroom sorting methods for users, but now it’s patching a problem that could have been solved by post-implementation cleanup. But I woudn’t be surprised if that’s a much bigger problem itself than just appointing new mods.

I still don’t like the lack of modcalls though. >.> I think that might be the worst single outcome that might happen. No modcalls, and maybe mods “hiding” in other rooms so they don’t have to deal with their own. I’ve seen it happen with room owners, I wouldn’t be surprised if it only gets worse.

I hear much frustration from several people but I think much of this frustration is due to having an not quite correct idea about what a Moderator is.
A moderator is a person (not a robot) who plays games on Kong just like you do. We’re not here to to be policemen and we’re not required to be “on duty” all the time just because the M is always on. We volunteer to help when we can but Kongregate does not expect us to drop everything we are doing (gaming, conversations with others, modding our current room, reading fourms, participating in other aspects of the Kongreagte experience, etc) just because there is a problem in a room.
I spent much of my early modship whipping around Kongregate trying to help whenever a modcall arrived. That meant on average at least one modcall every hour of my time on Kong during the week and two-three every hour on weekends. My peak was, I think, modcalls to 14 different rooms in one hour. I learned to ration myself to one or two calls per hour though there were a few times when I shuttled between two or three rooms at a time to keep the lid on but that is exhauting and unsatisfactory for all the rooms involved.
And lets not even start on having to deal with the sparse but widespread “I hate Mods and Mods suck” folks. Envy is such a negative emotion.
I personally have no time for people who refuse to report, mute and move on. They’re the same people, by and large, who expect robot modding (instantaneous understanding of a room’s community and issues along with perfect knowledge of its history even if you’ve never been there before) by at your beck and call moderators whom they insult and treat as non-people because of the M. If you cannot ignore the problem but then choose not to report and mute then you are a bigger part of the “problem” than the kid who is “kicking the traces” for attention. Attention seekers stop very quickly when the audience turns their back. Report and mute is you turning your back.
The new system addresses these issues and more. As someone who, as a Moderator, has lived in the current system for over three years and watched many fellow mods burn out trying to meet the unreaonable expectations some folks hold I think the new system is a definite improvement.
Gext3r – I would seriously suggest you try some other gaming sites before you knock Kongregate off the list of acceptable sites for your as yet unborn child. Maybe the reason you are here and not on one of those would give you some clues as to why your child is better off here too. And before you ask, my child brought me here having done the rounds of many other games sites.
And yes, promoting yourself to me as mod material, makes me take a step back however I have nominated some folks who have expressed their willingness to help build the room’s community.

First off: I have to agree with Gext3r’s idea of removing rooms; although I believe it should be limited to rooms that are clearly inactive. Not only does it clog server space, but it also eats at the supply of capable mods that need to remain in their current room doing nothing(If it has a room owner, anyway).
Second: I fully support the room-mod system that is being implemented. It will take pressure off of new moderators, and allow them to help support the community without being overwhelmed as easily as per the old system.
Third: I believe that periodically, we should have either mods designated to do so or administrators flip through each of the rooms, looking for potential mod candidates. While YES, the current amount of moderators is far too low, the amount of capable users willing to take up the banhammer is even less.
Just my personal opinion.

Now… forgive my lack of fineness with the whole posting shindig. I’m still new to the whole sha-bang. I would like to have the green shaded box that says Originally posted by SoAndSo. Yet that is beyond my abilities at the moment.
Now, to the point! In response to Modfriend, I think I was added by him/her/it. I will have to check but if I’m not mistaken I was indeed added. I only have my mod abilities in the Cookie Kingdom and outside of that I’m a regular user so my mod calls will be unnecessary if I’m in the CK. I don’t typically stray but I don’t think it’s a bad idea if I am added to Modfriend just in case I do take a little walk. Ya dig?

2) If you truly feel pruning the rooms would be a good idea, please suggest it! I know Kong is open for suggestions and if a lot of people support the idea and give good reasons behind their idea(s) then I’m sure Kong will look into the possibility. I nor Kong can’t promise anything but it can’t hurt to throw your ideas and suggestions out there, right? ;-)

3) Believe me, us Mods are always on the lookout for good Mod candidates. It benefits everyone to have more awesome Mods and we know that ;-)

First off: I have to agree with Gext3r’s idea of removing rooms; although I believe it should be limited to rooms that are clearly inactive. Not only does it clog server space, but it also eats at the supply of capable mods that need to remain in their current room doing nothing(If it has a room owner, anyway).
Second: I fully support the room-mod system that is being implemented. It will take pressure off of new moderators, and allow them to help support the community without being overwhelmed as easily as per the old system.
Third: I believe that periodically, we should have either mods designated to do so or administrators flip through each of the rooms, looking for potential mod candidates. While YES, the current amount of moderators is far too low, the amount of capable users willing to take up the banhammer is even less.
Just my personal opinion.

The idea of shutting down some rooms has already been noticed by admins. There are 3 or 4 rooms in the gun sights atm. So its unlikely we will end up with zombie rooms.

Roleplaying rooms seem either dead or barely having activity ( and activity in a roleplay room means pretending you’re a furry anime and grabbing the legs of random strangers who pretend they’re girls.)

Roleplaying rooms seem either dead or barely having activity ( and activity in a roleplay room means pretending you’re a furry anime and grabbing the legs of random strangers who pretend they’re girls.)

Roleplay rooms kinda-sorta have to stay. From the few times I’ve been there, they have a very entrenched community. Plus, people are always going to want to RP and outside of rooms that have the purpose of RP, it’s incredibly disruptive; this is why it’s not allowed outside of RP-specific rooms (unless the owner says otherwise).

Roleplaying rooms seem either dead or barely having activity ( and activity in a roleplay room means pretending you’re a furry anime and grabbing the legs of random strangers who pretend they’re girls.)

Roleplay rooms kinda-sorta have to stay. From the few times I’ve been there, they have a very entrenched community. Plus, people are always going to want to RP and outside of rooms that have the purpose of RP, it’s incredibly disruptive; this is why it’s not allowed outside of RP-specific rooms (unless the owner says otherwise).

I’d vote that RP-specific rooms stay. At least that enables people(s) to redirect those that are persistent on acting out ways to rub up against me/flooding chat. Besides, there are only two rooms, really.

Roleplaying rooms seem either dead or barely having activity ( and activity in a roleplay room means pretending you’re a furry anime and grabbing the legs of random strangers who pretend they’re girls.)

Roleplay rooms kinda-sorta have to stay. From the few times I’ve been there, they have a very entrenched community. Plus, people are always going to want to RP and outside of rooms that have the purpose of RP, it’s incredibly disruptive; this is why it’s not allowed outside of RP-specific rooms (unless the owner says otherwise).

To add, there must be a place to which moderators can redirect those who want RP

I hear much frustration from several people but I think much of this frustration is due to having an not quite correct idea about what a Moderator is.
A moderator is a person (not a robot) who plays games on Kong just like you do. We’re not here to to be policemen and we’re not required to be “on duty” all the time just because the M is always on. We volunteer to help when we can but Kongregate does not expect us to drop everything we are doing (gaming, conversations with others, modding our current room, reading fourms, participating in other aspects of the Kongreagte experience, etc) just because there is a problem in a room.
I spent much of my early modship whipping around Kongregate trying to help whenever a modcall arrived. That meant on average at least one modcall every hour of my time on Kong during the week and two-three every hour on weekends. My peak was, I think, modcalls to 14 different rooms in one hour. I learned to ration myself to one or two calls per hour though there were a few times when I shuttled between two or three rooms at a time to keep the lid on but that is exhauting and unsatisfactory for all the rooms involved.
And lets not even start on having to deal with the sparse but widespread “I hate Mods and Mods suck” folks. Envy is such a negative emotion.
I personally have no time for people who refuse to report, mute and move on. They’re the same people, by and large, who expect robot modding (instantaneous understanding of a room’s community and issues along with perfect knowledge of its history even if you’ve never been there before) by at your beck and call moderators whom they insult and treat as non-people because of the M. If you cannot ignore the problem but then choose not to report and mute then you are a bigger part of the “problem” than the kid who is “kicking the traces” for attention. Attention seekers stop very quickly when the audience turns their back. Report and mute is you turning your back.
The new system addresses these issues and more. As someone who, as a Moderator, has lived in the current system for over three years and watched many fellow mods burn out trying to meet the unreaonable expectations some folks hold I think the new system is a definite improvement.
Gext3r – I would seriously suggest you try some other gaming sites before you knock Kongregate off the list of acceptable sites for your as yet unborn child. Maybe the reason you are here and not on one of those would give you some clues as to why your child is better off here too. And before you ask, my child brought me here having done the rounds of many other games sites.
And yes, promoting yourself to me as mod material, makes me take a step back however I have nominated some folks who have expressed their willingness to help build the room’s community.

So much wisdom in this post, Bev. You word it how I wish I could word it.

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